One thing I will add here is the amount of talented people out there.
The labor pool in my area is small pickings.
The "best" guys, meaning loyal, hard working and those that take pride in workmanship that I have found are the guys/gals with with small families, 26+ yrs old. They seem to be more responsible.
The flip side are the single ones, 18-26. And the ones coming straight out of tech schools. I don't know why the instructors there constantly tell them they will make $45K if they graduate, but reality hits them real fast. The single younger folks seem to never make it on time, and the first thing they want to do when they do make it to work is wonder when "break time" is.
The biggest peave I have is the young mentality of "you pay me more and I'll do more".
I tell them, you show me what you can do, and I'll gladly give you what you are worth.
